Garba Shehu, former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex‑President Muhammadu Buhari, has rejected the notion that his former boss was detached from national affairs, arguing instead that Buhari may have been Nigeria’s most well‑informed head of state.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, Shehu countered critics who portrayed Buhari as aloof, describing the former president as a leader who preferred results over public spectacle.
“President Buhari didn’t just want to cut ribbons and take pictures. He wasn’t a showman. He wanted his work to speak for him,” Shehu said. “This thing about Buhari being unaware, it is totally, totally misplaced. If you permit me, I would say that he perhaps would pass as the most aware president Nigeria has ever had.”
Shehu recalled daily briefings during which aides presented newspaper clippings and broadcast summaries, only to find that Buhari had already reviewed the material:
“When we started with him, we would go to Buhari’s house for breakfast and then tell him that this is what the radio stations have said … Believe me, by the time you got to him, he would have read ahead of you.”
“The fastest way they could get to the president at that time with a problem, was not to go to the civil service and write a memo and file. Go to the press. Talk to the television.”
Addressing criticisms of Buhari’s pace in office, Shehu said the former military ruler deliberately embraced due process as a “converted democrat.”
“Was he slow? Yeah, he himself had joked about all of that… This time, as a converted democrat, he needed to follow the due processes that the law says he should follow. What is wrong with that? Nigerians are very impatient. We want to rush through things. But he says, ‘No. The democratic process sets the rules, and I must not go against them.’”
Shehu also dismissed speculation that Buhari might oppose President Bola Tinubu or the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027:
“No, not at all. President Buhari’s position was and still is that he’s an APC person. APC did him the big favour of his life—made him president for two terms. He is not going to betray that party… Is it President Buhari who will quit?”
